Tag Archives: insurance

It is done!

10 Replies

 

1995 Robin stamp

Everything is done. The solicitor finally found a little urgency and did something quickly. I’m sure the whole thing could have been done weeks ago, but they draw it out to avoid the impression that they are charging a four figure sum for a day’s work. Yet when they come to the shop wanting valuations for probate they never offer to pay.

Once the bed is delivered on Thursday we will have to start staying there regularly to fulfill the needs of the house insurance policy, which I have just paid for.

Again, another chunk of money which is little more than a wager that nothing bad will happen in the next year. Rather like a similar arrangement with a bookmaker or the National Lottery, I find myself paying out in the knowledge that they are getting the best of the deal.  If I suggested putting the money on Red at a roulette table, Julia would go mad, but pour it down the drain betting that your roof won’t be blown off (which has never (famous last words) happened in the last thirty five years)  and she’s quite happy. When you look at the excess for accidental damage we really don’t have much that would cost more than £350 to replace, rendering the insurance superfluous. Break the big mirror, drop a camera, smash the TV, pour coffee into the computer – all things they say they cover – and once the £350 excess is taken into consideration you realise none of our stuff cost over £350.

Robin at Clumber, Nottinghamshire

Warning: Rant ahead . . .

Same with legal insurance. They tell you that to bring it into play you must have a 50% chance of success.  Well, if you are going to let the insurance company decide that (and they will always select the route with least risk to their wallet) you may as well not bother. I wanted to use the legal expenses cover on my car insurance once, when a long-drawn out accident repair left me thousands out of pocket for car hire. First of all they told me that the other driver had been polite and cooperative so they didn’t want to upset him, then they told me he wasn’t insured for it and they only took action against people when they could get the money off an insurance company. So all those £29.99 payments I’d made each year came to nothing and I ended up out of pocket and feeling cheated by my insurance company. That, of course, is a feeling that has been repeated several times over the years.

Some companies, it seems, have devices on the phone lines to detect stress patterns in phone calls so they can accuse their customers of lying. It would be more to the point if they used lie detection techniques on their sales staff.

Robin at Rufford Abbey

I had someone from the electrical retailer on the phone last night ringing about the microwave order. It turned out to be about selling me an insurance policy. I cut her short. Didn’t want to appear rude, I said, but I once had a policy with them when Number One Son went to University. We bought him a lap top and took out the insurance policy. He, of course, dropped it, broke the lid and damaged the mechanism for switching on and off. So we told him to go to Currys in Leeds and use the policy.

They refused to do anything and told us it was for Nottingham to sort out. We had to drive 70 miles, pick up the computer and bring it home. Two weeks later they told us they had fixed it, which involved nothing more than bodging the broken lid to make it turn on. It was still broken, still not functioning 100% but was, according to their version of the insurance policy, fixed.

Robin, Arnot Hill Park

That’s why I always hate dealing with them, and why I never take out an insurance policy these days. I also always take the opportunity to mention the word “liar” when turning down their offers of insurance,

It’s better if I go now, before I get into my stride and do another thousand words on insurance companies . . .

Robin in the Garden Centre cafe

I thought it was time for Robins to make an appearance. It’s Christmas soon.

Insurance Renewal Blues . . .

12 Replies

Bean Soup with tortilla chip bits – my doomed final attempt at being sophisticated

I opened an email from the company that arranges my house insurance today. It’s been lurking in my inbox for a while and I’ve been putting it off. Bearing in mind how my car insurance shot up, I was not looking forward to this. It has gone up by 50%. At least, unlike my car insurer, they spared me the excuses, though they did say that although I had been with them for  while I may be able to get a better deal elsewhere. They are right. I can get insurance cover for about half what I was paying last year. Business is business and I don’t take offence at being asked for an inflted price. That, after all, is the basis of the business I am in. We name a price, the customer names a ridiculously low offer, and so it goes on . . .

However, our prices are based on judgement and we would not ask more than something was really worth. With insurance it’s less clear cut. Despite recent changes in the law, it still seems like companies keep boosting your premium to see what they can get away with. It’s not a pleasant feeling.

My soup flask – itb holds nearly two mugs.

I’m currently with a broker called Swinton. They are a national company that took over the local broker that used to do my insurance.  Their prices for house insurance and business insurance were always OK. When I tried them with my car a few years ago they were great for a year and then it went badly wrong with a quote that seemed wildly out of proportion. I changed provider and even after the latest rise in prices I am paying considerably less than that Swinton quote. I was tempted to move all the business but the household price stayed reasonable.

The new price was a shock, though not a surprise, and I just had a look round. I can do a lot better.

The top of my soup flask – a folding spoon sits in a recess in the lid. I never use it, but I like gadgets.

Of course, there is always an element of fear in swapping insurers, but sometimes you have to move. I can take out insurance with a company that will charge me a lot less than the current quote. I can’t, however, guarantee that they will be any good if the house falls down. On the other hand, having never made a claim, I can’t guarantee you that any of the previous insurers would have been any good either.

I am with a reputable car insurer, and have no worries there. I am with a reputable breakdown service, though I always feel the service may be less good than the AA. So far it’s been OK, but you never know . . .

Nettle soup with a very poor attempt at a swirl of cream

Now I’m changing house insurance. I have been with many people before, as Swinton is only a broker, so it’s not as if I really had a relationship with any insurer. At least by going directly I can select an insurer with a name that I recognise. It’s just a fear of change, rather than a logical fear, but it all adds up. That’s why I’m reading a book about being happy. So far, it’s not really working.

I think it’s broccoli soup. But it might be a failed experiment in producing life from primeval slime. I’m ambivalent about broccoli at the best of times, so it may even be a bit of both . . .

Today’s pictures are soup. Nothing like winter to make soup look attractive. Even broccoli soup.

Insurance, Illusion and Infamy

9 Replies

Also see here.

Insurance, you say?

When I took on breakdown cover from Green Flag just four years ago, it cost me, as I recall, about £60. The AA were asking a lot more. I think it was about £250, though it may have been more. That was my “reward” for being with the AA for 38 years. When I rang to complain about their new member prices a few years previously  they basically told me to get lost, as there was no reduction for me, just a lifetime of servitude as a cash cow. I put up with it a while longer, as I am always a little afraid of changing insurance companies, but their prices rose and my standard of living fell, so I had to do something.

When I rang to cancel they offered me a better deal, based on the same deal they were currently doing for new members. I told him they should have thought of that when I had originally asked, as they had now pushed me to the point of no return.

Green Flag, which I have used to help with tyre changes twice in four years has been good, but they have doubled in price in four years, well ahead of the rate of inflation. This is even more noticeable as i hardly use the car these days.

St George – enamel on a Crown coin

I am now with Britannia, who are providing my cover for £99, about £30 less than Green Flag. Ironically, the AA, which does not seem to have gone up over the years, has a half price offer on and would have provided this cover for £110 – slightly less than Green Flag. Even the full rate appears to be lower than the price I paid four years ago. I won’t, of course, go back to the AA at the moment, because I’m still annoyed with their piratical pricing practices. The RAC has just had an offer that came in around the £99 mark. In their case I passed because I had arranged to transfer to them but they didn’t contact me to arrange it at the agreed time. You don’t want breakdown insurance with a company that might forget you, do you?

Something I find very interesting is that both the AA and RAC have comparison websites to telll you how much better they are than Green Flag and Britannia. I take these sites, and the special offers, to mean that more and more people are buying on cost these days.

When I told Green Flag I would not be renewing, guess what they said? Yes, straight from the playbook – they could reduce the price for me if that would get me to stay.

Car insurance companies are now supposed to offer the same price to existing customers as they do to new customers. This doesn’t seem to be the case with breakdown insurance. In fact I just looked this up – the new rules apply to car and household insurance, but testing the market still seems to indicate that you can get a discount by shopping around.

I remember a cartoon from many years ago – one City banker saying to another, “No, they didn’t banks can “police” themselves, they said banks can “please” themselves.” Same, I suspect, for insurance companies.

It was the Alex strip in The Independent but I can’t find the actual cartoon. Some of these are quite funny too. And these. And these . . .

St George – enamel on a Crown coin

First Frost and That Time of Year Again

12 Replies

We had our first frost today. It was very late this year. If I’d been a better diarist over the years I would be able to compare it properly, but can’t. Tonight, a day late, I put the cover on my windscreen to prevent it frosting up. It probably won’t freeze now, though they were gritting roads tonight so the council must expect it. We’ve been lucky so far but, realistically, winter hasn’t really started yet.

I’m spending my evenings daydreaming about the house I will build if I win the lottery. This isn’t the one in an air-conditioned bubble in the desert, this is the slightly mor realistic one with ground source heat pumps, solar panels, a windmill and lots of insulation. I’ve not decided whether to build it into the side of a hill yet, but will probably have a garage I can drive straight into. And a narrow gauge railway for taking the bins to the bottom of the drive.

This, of course, relies on a larger win that my normal disappointing wins of between £2 and £5. It always seems like I’ve used all my luck up with one of those wins, when I would rather save all my luck up for one big win. Sadly, the laws of probability don’t seem to work like that. It’s a bit like good luck charms – if that “lucky” rabbit’s foot was really that lucky it would still be attached to a rabbit.

I’ve just been looking at my household insurance renewal. We have never claimed on it and it has just gone up by 25%. The broker I use lost my car insurance business with an outlandish renewal price a couple of years ago and it looks like they are heading the same way with the house now. There’s something distinctly unsavoury about insurance companies and the way prices rise at random. The problem I always have at this time of year is that I’m too busy to mess around with quotes so I tend to nod it through. To be fair their prices have always been reasonable, but this move is a bit steep.

I’ll give them another year, but after that it looks like it will be the end. Once an insurance broker loses your trust, the end is not far away.

Frosted bamboo

Photos are from December 2017 – a colder winter.

Tetchy Tuesday

16 Replies

Here goes, let’s see what happens as I embark on my new round of planned posts.

First, traffic. Yesterday there was just a light dusting of traffic on the ring road. Today there were even queues to get on the road. I didn’t immediately think anything of it as traffic can be slow sometimes and it’s not as if there was a choice of roads.The traffic system of Nottingham has never been particularly good and it seems to be getting worse every time they redesign it.

However, after twenty minutes we knew that there was a problem somewhere ahead. You can tell. I did see three accidents by the roadside but I think they were all caused by people queuing and running into each other. A lot of it is caused by impatience.

The hold up appeared to be a problem on one of the roundabouts. There was a large tailback onto the main carriageway and this was blocking one lane, at which point it all backed up for four miles. We’re not America so we only had two lanes to start with.

It took me over an hour to do a twenty minute journey. I then had to stop for fuel (the hire car was due back today) and make my way to work where I was due to swap cars. I was supposed to be there for 9.00 and finally arrived at 9.30. Not that it mattered – the recovery vehicle was stuck in traffic too and we eventually swapped cars at 10.00.

I like having my own car back. It may be unfashionable, boring, chugging, unpopular and battered but it suits me. I can’t see that a SEAT Ibiza would ever suit me. Apart from the size and build quality the name Ibiza just sets me on edge. And I couldn’t find Radio 4 Extra, Five Live or the World Service on the radio either. It did, to be fair, have Radio 4, but that can be a bit funereal at times and Women’s Hour on Saturday is so miserable it beggars belief.

I paid my £400 excess, muttering about car insurance and set to work.

Later, the owner got a letter. It was from the man who had popped by to give him a quote for a roller shutter last weekend. While he was doing the quote he did a bit of work to make the front more secure. He also left quite a bit of clutter, including screws and a broken drill bit on the front where we park our cars.

Despite coming out to give us a quote he has sent a bill for £120 call-out fee and £70 for an hour’s work. This proves beyond doubt my feeling that not every robbing bastard wears a mask or works at night.

Julia has just been watching the news – she says the cause of the traffic problems was a gas leak that caused a road closure. They still haven’t found the leak so it looks like my trip to hospital tomorrow will be fun and even Thursday could be a problem. On the other hand, forewarned, I may just pack a picnic and enjoy the delay.

Not sure about that header picture – a bear sniffing flowers in the sun is altogether too upbeat.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Bear in a tree

Starting with Teeth…

12 Replies

The good news is that I have no more dental work for a while. Having spent the last two weeks with a temporary cap I’m now pleased to record that I’ve just had my new crowns fitted.

I have kept the old ones, because one is gold. I’m thinking, as with the previous one that I kept, that they will be useful if the world banking system collapses. I’m also wondering about the idea of melting them down and using them to make a piece of jewellery for Julia.

Dental gold, I’m told, is about 60% pure, which makes it close to 15 carat gold. This was a standard used by the Victorians and I’ve always liked it. This probably seems strange, but there are some nice items made in 15 carat. It went out of use in 1932. Unfortunately, it’s quite close to 14 carat gold, a tawdry American standard that has been popularised in the UK by TV shopping channels. They have also popularised chocolate diamonds. Brown jewellery, whatever next?

And here is another place where American and English diverge as languages. We have the word carat, which describes the weight of a diamond and the fineness of gold. In America they have carat for the weight of diamonds and karat for the fineness of gold. It is both an example of American logic and the capacity of the English language for absorbing ambiguity.

You only need to think of a metal cleaning solution made in Eastern Europe. That would be Polish polish, and I’m sure most of you instinctively read it as that.

Further to the story of the skip – Julia finally tracked the company down and on being told that they couldn’t do anything, informed them in steely tones that she was sure they could.

They could, she said, either provide us with a skip or refund us for the one they had taken away early.

They are sending us a new skip tomorrow.

Then I left the AA. That for American readers, is like the AAA, but not based in America. My breakdown cover was due to cost me £312. I looked at it and decided I can’t afford it. So I looked at reducing cover, and got it to £171.

At that point I turned to the internet. I could, if I was joining the AA for the first time, get the reduced cover for £25 less. I’ve had this argument with them before and, after 38 years of continuous membership, it finally annoyed me so much I decided to do something about it.

I now have breakdown cover with Green Flag. It has cost me £58 and offers, on paper, the all the important elements of the AA cover.

Of course, I’ll only know if I’ve done the right thing when I’m stranded on a dark road in the middle of a rainy winter night. That’s what always worries me when changing insurance, have I done the right thing or have I sacrificed security for a few quid?

Featured image is a Razorbill. I was just wondering about sticking some lipstick on it and calling it a Puffin.

 

Homespun Philosophy, or Hopeless Drivel

16 Replies

I started off with the intention of writing about police inefficiency, motorway roadworks, the cupidity of insurance companies and the general unfairness of life. Then I realised that life doesn’t care. Nor do the police, the Highways Agency or the insurance industry.

Commercially speaking, monopolies are bad, and the police, for instance, have no incentive to improve. Unlike the power industry I cannot opt to have Justice provided by Nottinghamshire Constabulary if I don’t find West Yorkshire Police to my liking. Having said that, it’s rather like having a choice between eczema and psoriasis, though without the spelling problems.

Same goes for the Highways Agency, if you don’t like the way they set out their roadworks you can’t use someone else who sets it up better. That’s why they are able to get away with shoddy signing and everlasting roadworks.

As for insurance companies, they have their uses, as do leeches, faecal coliforms and corporate accountants. It probably isn’t fair to criticise them too much, though anyone who can increase your insurance premium by  15% for no apparant reason then add another £50 because of a speeding offence probably deserves some stick. When they follow up by asking “are you happy with that?” they virtually guarantee that they are not going to do well in comparison to other unpleasant life forms.

That’s all for now.

After a cold day in the shop and a cold evening at home sorting insurance documents I am now going out for a cold drive through badly laid out roadworks to deliver Number Two Son to work.

You are very lucky this is only a minor rant with low-level negativity and minor misery. It could have been a lot worse, particularly as, six days after going to the dentist, I also have a raging toothache.

Time, I think, to grip life by something tender and give it a good twist. That will teach it not to mess with me.

The stamps are a homage to a well-known blogger – can you guess which one?